


breathe

by hvddock



Series: iron maiden [2]
Category: Captain America - All Media Types, Iron Man (Movies), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Bonding, Bucky Barnes & Tony Stark Friendship, Bucky Barnes Feels, Bucky Barnes Has PTSD, Bucky Barnes Needs a Hug, Bucky Barnes's Metal Arm, Civil War Team Iron Man, Developing Friendships, Developing Relationship, Don’t copy to another site, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Female Tony Stark, Forgiveness, Gen, Italian Tony Stark, Nicknames, POV Bucky Barnes, Past Brainwashing, Platonic Relationships, Post-Black Panther (2018), Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Precious Peter Parker, Protective Bucky Barnes, Protective Harley Keener, Protective Peter Parker, Swearing, Team Cap Critical, Tony Stark Feels, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Is a Good Bro, if it's bashing then i don't care anymore
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-06
Updated: 2019-12-06
Packaged: 2021-01-23 22:53:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,713
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21328009
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hvddock/pseuds/hvddock
Summary: Bucky stood in front of Stark's lab, his mechanical arm stiff and aching, and the man debated if he should even be down here or if it would be best to just keep ongoing with his day. While Steve was more than happy to bother the older woman (though that had changed in the last week with the blonde avoiding every room she’d been in). Bucky didn’t very much enjoy torturing Stark with his presence more than he already does by just existing. The Winter Soldier was sure that Stark would rather pluck her own eyes out than help the murderer of her parents.Or,He went in for a check-up and came out with Toni Stark as one of his newest and, by far, biggest supporters.
Relationships: Harley Keener & Peter Parker & Tony Stark, James "Bucky" Barnes & Tony Stark, Tony Stark & Stark Robots
Series: iron maiden [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1499516
Comments: 16
Kudos: 450
Collections: ellie marvel fics - read





	breathe

**Author's Note:**

> this will be one of the few fics that follow the one before it. this was supposed to be apart of 'obvious', but I just didn't think it fit in with my saltiness of the first so here we are. hope you enjoy it.
> 
> toni: eiza gonzález

Bucky stood in front of Stark's lab, his mechanical arm stiff and aching, and the man debated if he should even be down here or if it would be best to just keep on going with his day. While Steve was more than happy to bother the older woman (though that had changed in the last week with the blonde avoiding every room she’d been in). Bucky didn’t very much enjoy torturing Stark with his presence more than he already does by just existing. The Winter Soldier was sure that Stark would rather pluck her own eyes out than help the murderer of her parents.

It was hard to ignore how the woman made sure that her back was never to him, to check every dark corner lest she discovers him lurking in them, to always keep one or two people between them at all times.

Bucky could tell that Stark tried not to be rude to him; she was polite to him, _painfully so_, and accommodated him and all of his needs though he was sure that it was more to keep the others off her back than make his life easier. Not that he would blame her if she unleashed all of her hatred for him.

Even if he hadn't been in the right state of mind in Siberia, he was as responsible for the injuries she gained as Steve was. While it might have been self-defense at first, it quickly turned into assault when he and the other super soldier both beat her down, a _fucking_ baseline human, with a vibranium shield. Bucky should have stopped the fight before it got that far, but the Winter Soldier had been on auto-pilot and the only thing that he had been worried about was surviving; although if he had been running on more than instinct, he would have realized that the worst he had to fear was a very well-deserved ass-whooping alongside Stevie.

If Toni Stark had wanted them dead, he was positive that he wouldn't be standing in her home right now. Most people that Stark wanted dead usually end up dead; there was a reason HYDRA placed such a high threat level on the woman.

He straightened up when the clicking of the door in front of sounded and voices spilled from behind; internally, he filed away that two of them sounded too young to be from his teammates or the New Avengers and couldn’t help the shock he felt when he came face-to-face with two teenage boys and Stark standing right behind him; the latter's face paling at the sight of him before she composed herself.

Both boys seemed to be in their mid-teen years, though one looked more like an attack dog rather than a boy at the moment. The one before him was shorter than all three of the surrounding people (although Toni only had him beat by an inch so he couldn't count her) and had a fluffy head of brunette locks with brown orbs that stared up at him with awe and unease as he clutched his backpack to his chest like a barrier between the ex-assassin and himself. The other teen towered over the smaller brunette, matching him in hair and eye color though his hair was more on the wild side and this kid had to have the biggest pair on him because he only looked Bucky up and down before scoffing and loudly declaring, "_This_ is who Rogers became an international criminal for? Doesn't seem like much to me, Mechanic." The last comment he directed at the woman behind him before the teen then turned back towards him, "You 'ought to watch your step around here, would hate for you to lose your arm again."

Bucky held in his snort as both Stark and the other brunette smacked the teen. A yelp sounded from the spitfire as he rubbed the back of his head. The kid reminded him of Stark in how she didn't take other people's shit and called it as she saw it most of the time, especially if it came from the Rogues.

"I-I'm so sorry, Winter Soldier, sir! I mean, Sg. Bucky!" The brunette in front of him stammered as Bucky fought to keep the smile off his face while watching the smaller boy smack the sassy one around, "Harley left his manners in the barn we raised him on."

"Nah," the now-named Harley spoke up, "my dad took them when he left all those years ago."

"The 'my-dad-left-me-so-I-act-like-a-jerk' shtick will only work for so long, Harley."

"And until it doesn't, I'll continue to use it, _Peter_."

The way Harley stressed the other teen's name seemed to set something off with him because his eyes lit up in realization and then his cheeks filled with color as he apologized quietly to the taller brunette and seemed to shrink in on himself. Ah, he wasn't supposed to know their name. Probably a rule made up by Stark seeing as the unusually quiet female sighed into her hand before shrugging and reached over to pat Peter's shoulder, sending him a soft smile as if to let him know he wasn't in trouble. Bucky almost raised a hand to cover his eyes from how much the kid glowed from that simple act alone. The kid could power the whole facility with a smile that bright.

"Why don't the both of you head on towards your room while I talk with Sg. Barnes?" Stark spoke for the first time since she'd caught sight of him and it was adorable at how both boys tried to protest. Wow, even children could feel the tension between them. It would be hilarious if it wasn't disheartening how hard the teens vocalized their displeasure at the thought of leaving their mentor with him. Even if he couldn't blame them.

Bucky was sure they'd seen the aftermath of the last time they'd been alone together.

However, Stark didn't seem to care as she sent them both away though that didn't stop Harley from glaring him down hatefully or Peter sending him and Stark worried glances before the boys had disappeared around the corner.

Before he can even open his mouth Stark had already beaten him to the punch, "Your arm?"

"... Huh?" Was his intelligent response.

She rolled her eyes at him before asking, "Your arm is hurting you, isn't it?"

As soon as she said those words, Bucky's body finally seemed to remember why he came to see her and the aches started up once again. He didn't show his pain on the outside, HYDRA never cared if their _Soldat_ was in pain and he learned to never vocalize it. The only response he gave her was a quick, sharp nod, and he was glad that she didn't seem to take offense to his lack of response; the last thing he needed was to give her another reason to make this procedure more painful than it had to be.

It seems he didn't have to say a word, Toni stepped aside to allow him into her lab. When Bucky stepped into her workshop, he was sure that he'd walked into his own personal techie wonderland.

While he didn't have all his memories from the past, Bucky was sure that past him probably would have been salivating at Stark's lab. It was nothing like the workshops of HYDRA's scientists.

Instead of an overbearing atmosphere that made him want to curl into a ball and sob, the lab had a warmth to it that reminded him of a welcoming hug.

Instead of a sickly green underground, the lab was wide and open with light streaming in from the windows, illuminating every corner and leaving place for darkness to slither in and take hold.

Stark coughing into her hand startled him a bit. He watched how she took notice of that fact and wondered if she would make it a habit to sneak up on him now. His handler would be furious at him for showing weakness to the enemy (?). Bucky shivered though this time he made sure he was quick enough so she wouldn't catch signs of it. It honestly didn't seem to matter as Stark led him towards an examination area that differed vastly from what he was used to.

If only the doctors could see him now, he thought amusingly. Where there should have been a cold, hard, steel operating table with an assortment of clinical tools beside it was a cushioned seat moved over from the living room area, with a work table and rolling chair next to it. It wasn't what Bucky had been expecting, hell, nothing about this meeting was going how he thought it would.

The whole team, other than Sam and Scott, had warned him about Stark. About how selfish she was, how she was nothing more than a spoiled rich brat, how Stark liked to make everything about her and left room for nobody except herself and her ego. Bucky had come in here with the thought she had to be an anti-Christ with how much hate the team spewed about her, even if a small part of him whispered about how hypercritical everyone was, how self-centered Steve was, how angry Barton was, how manipulative the witch could be, and how empty the Widow was.

And yet, Stark never even spit an insult back at the others when they besmirched her name. She never uttered a word, only walked away and continued with whatever she had been doing, ignoring the hateful words they whispered in her presence. Almost like the words they said towards her were nothing new and that, _that_ scared him more than he liked.

Because no one should have to be accused of being nothing short of evil. Bucky had lived through the worst of mankind's wickedness and he was sure that there was nothing that Stark could do to him that HYDRA already hadn't. He had seen the absolute worst of humanity. Had _been_ the evil that others swore she was for 50 years as the Winter Soldier, compared to him? Stark was an angel.

"You daydreaming, Red October?" Bucky raised a brow at the nickname, not making a noise or giving away how much the pet name made him feel warm inside. He made his way over to the seat and sat stiffly. As Stark walked around, he kept her in his line of sight and when she left it, he made sure that his hearing followed her footsteps. Bucky watched as she pulled up a holographic diagram of his arm and found himself overcome with awe, his eyes following her hands as she moved them back and forth. It immediately reminded him of another Stark: male, young, and filled with dreams of his inventions and the future. Remembered the feeling of wonderment and excitement that the Bucky from before must have felt at all the bursting lights and advanced technology.

"Let's get started, shall we?"

He blinked back to the present, feeling his mind catch back up to his body. Bucky lifted his head, making eye contact with the mechanic, patience clear in her brown orbs. He gave her a stiff quick nod and allowed himself to lay back, being mindful to relax his body as she got to work on checking his arm.

It was quiet, the atmosphere awkward and tension thick in the air, the only sound in the area being Stark’s footfalls and her breathing that seemed to falter whenever he so much as twitched a finger. Then again, he wasn’t doing much better, with his eyes trained on every movement she made and keeping all of her tools in his eyesight so he could watch her work. While he was sure that she wouldn’t hurt him, it doesn't mean Stark couldn’t try to put something in his arm to make his life harder.

“Put that down, dummy!” A quick reprimand from Stark broke the silence followed by a series of chirps and mechanical beeps and the sound of something wheeling closer to him and the mechanic, and Bucky lifted his head to see.

It was a robot. An honest-to-god robot was standing beside him and trying to feed Tony Stark a (here, he wrinkled his nose at the smell wafting from the cup) protein shake of some sort, though he was almost ninety-nine percent sure that it was more oil than protein based on the smell. It didn't matter as Bucky was more in awe at the fact that the bot could even make the shake regardless if it's wrong. Stark didn't seem to share the same opinion as she only rolled her eyes and then turned back to working on his arm, the bot's clawed arm drooping as it beeped sadly at the mechanic's back.

"I swear," Stark sighed, "if you try to poison me one more time I'm donating you to a community college for scrap parts."

He tried not to, he really did, but Bucky couldn't stop the huff of laughter from escaping him and he quickly fell silent again when Stark stopped messing around in his arm to stare down at him.

Bucky forced himself to not react as the woman eyeballed him. He couldn't help but feel paralyzed under her gaze. While he knew that he could take her on in a fight, Bucky knew better than to underestimate the small woman. As frail as she was without her metal suit, her brain was a dangerous weapon all on its own. No one could separate her from it.

"That funny, Soldier?" Stark's brows raised in surprise. She probably thought he could do nothing other than brood. Then again, she didn’t have reason to believe otherwise when all he did was stand in dark corners whenever he found himself surrounded by Steve and his band of misfits. Don't get him wrong, he was grateful for what most of them gave up to help him, but he knew that it could have all been otherwise avoided if Stevie had just listened to reason instead of accepting his word as law. Especially at the expense of a person like Stark. 

"He's.. amazing." Was all he said in reply.

Her gaze softened as Stark smiled to herself and reached a hand to pet the arm of the robot, "He is amazing. He's the first AI I ever built." Here, her smile was more sincere as she stared at her mechanical bot with nothing but love and kindness—Bucky was man enough to admit that he was finding himself jealous of machinery.

Stark shook her head before shooing the beeping bot away as she went back to working on him. While he didn't want to make her uncomfortable by extinguishing the somewhat relaxed silence that surrounded them, but Bucky couldn't help the curiosity he felt stirring in him. Instead of keeping his gaze trained on Stark, he was now keeping track of the robust bot. Categorizing every little thing the robot did and found immense joy as he noticed another one rolling around with Dummy.

"Seems a lot more.. archaic." He stated.

“Hm?” 

“Dummy seems kinda old.” Stark snorted as she sat back from where she’d been leaning over him. 

“DUM-E.” She corrected him. “He’s the oldest of my AI’s; made the old man when I was still a teenager. A dummy.” There she winked at him and Bucky couldn’t find it in himself to not smile at that. Stark would give the bot some childish name. A childish name from a child.

“And the other one?” He raised his flesh hand to point behind her and ignored the visible flinch from her. Bucky observed her as she fixed her face and the woman gave him that press smile she’d used around him and the others.

“That’s U. I made him a few years after the other rust bucket and they’ve been pains in my ass ever since.” If Bucky had been anyone else, he would have thought she was being a rude brat. But he was watching her and he noticed a lot of things. Like how she praised DUM-E and U even when they messed up, or how there was this glint in her eye that reflected warmth in them only reserved for a very few she held dear, or even when she had no reason to do so Stark took the time to work on making him more comfortable at the expense of being near him. Once again this woman has proved to be more than what her old teammates think she is.

Even though he had no right, Bucky couldn't help but be proud of her. Stark let no one tear her down and kept moving towards the future. A futurist she truly is. And while he knows that it might change nothing or it even just make her angrier, he couldn't leave this place without at least saying...

"I'm sorry."

There, it was now out in the open. It filled the silence that followed with tension; Stark didn't need him to explain what he was apologizing for. While he had no right to beg for her forgiveness, especially after all he and Steve put her and her friends through, but it just wouldn't sit right with him without at least trying to show her he felt remorse for the part he played in ruining her childhood. For taking her parents from her. For causing the ticking bomb that was the Avengers to blow up in _her _face while the others got to evade responsibility under the guise of protecting him. And it seemed he didn't have to say much else because she surprised him once more.

Her blank face softened into a small gentle smile that warmed the space around them and Bucky felt the tension and fear drain from his entire being. 

"I forgive you." She whispered, and that was it.

The rest of his time spent in now comfortable silence and the ache in his arm was no more. There were no more words to be spoken between them. A few moments later and Bucky found himself once again standing outside Stark's—_call me Toni, Winter Wonderland_—feeling like a weight had been lifted from his shoulders. While the complete weight of his guilt would never leave him, Bucky felt that he could learn to move on and forgive himself if at least one person he hurt could do it.

* * *

When he awoke the next morning to FRIDAY wishing him a good morning, he was shocked. The AI made sure that all the Rogues felt her wrath at every moment of their lives. While she wasn't as antagonistic towards him, she certainly wasn't friendly; more passive-aggressive, which he felt was more than reasonable. He had had a part in her creator's injuries after all.

"Sg. Barnes," the soft Irish voice called, "Boss has left instructions for you to look outside your room. I would advise you to do so."

Bucky blinked in confusion but found it best to just do what the AI wanted. He made his way towards his bedroom door and opened it slowly, peering out to observe his surroundings. It wasn't until he looked down that he realized that there was a plain white box with a red ribbon on the top. He looked towards the ceiling where he knew that FRIDAY had to be watching and when she said nothing Bucky dropped to one knee and grabbed the box. He only relaxed when he made it back into his room with no complication.

He sat back on his bed present placed delicately on his lap. Bucky stared down at the box as if it would explode; yes, he knew that Toni had forgiven him and he knew that she wouldn't be so cruel as to attack when he was vulnerable—_she'd proven that already_—he wouldn't blame her if she had changed her mind.

He jumped when FRIDAY broke the silence with her dry tone, "I assure you that Boss has left nothing nefarious in the box, Sg. Barnes." Was it him or did he just have an AI sass him? Bucky chuckled roughly and then reached to open the box. When the box didn't detonate, he counted his lucky stars and peeked into the box. He stared blankly down at the note and transparent phone and tablet inside. 

Bucky ignored the electronics even though the technophile in him would love nothing more than to see what they did and instead brought up the note to read.

_Since I know that Rogers has probably blocked off all Stark electronics,_

_(probably scared that I'll try to send you a virus), I've decided to_

_improve your life—and give me peace of mind—by handing you your own Stark phone and tablet._

_The thought of you having a <strike>flip phone</strike> we shall not even speak the name in this household._

_And don't even think of walking around with at least one of these on your_

_person or I swear to goodness._

_Love, _

_You know who I am._

Bucky hadn't even noticed that tears falling from his eyes until it hit the note in his hands. Hastily, he wiped at his face with his flesh hand and folded the paper in careful squares and placed it carefully on the nightstand beside his bed. He reached into the box to grab the phone and tablet. As he placed both of the items on his bed, Bucky felt himself smiling.

Yeah, Stevie had no idea the kind and beautiful soul that he had damaged though it seemed he was feeling the loss of her in more ways than one. And while he may not be able to protect her physically all the time, maybe he could...

"Miss FRIDAY?"

"Yes, Sg. Barnes?"

"Can you send me all there is on the Accords?"

And he'd be lying if he didn't like the softened tone of voice of the AI as she said, "Of course, Sg. Barnes."

He'd read these Accords, and he'd see what the whole fuss was about. And after he was done with that? He would make sure that Stevie got his stubborn ass in gear and apologized to Toni. _The right way_, this time.

**Author's Note:**

> ok so low key I forgot to add Friday until the end so let's just say she was just being observant today lol
> 
> also follow me on [my tumblr ig](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/chickadeebabe)


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